This week’s question gets out of the realm of personal stories and moves into ancestry and personal history: What were your grandparents like? Well, when I was born, I had three of my four grandparents still around, as well as quite a few of my eight great-grandparents. And it wasn’t long before my paternal grandmother remarried the man who I would grow up knowing as “grandpa” and my maternal grandmother would pass from cancer. Continue reading “What were your grandparents like?”
Category: Personal
How did you get your first job?
Again, not sure how best to answer this. As I answered last time about bosses, I was working from a young age doing performance stuff in theatre, on TV and even as a model on trade show runways. Heck, the first dollar I ever made (the folks still have it in a frame on their wall) was when I was young and doing the “robot” at a restaurant while the family was eating. Someone stuffed that buck into my pocket when I wasn’t looking. I also delivered newspapers and worked in the school cafeteria (this was important since I needed a job to pay for my own phone line and while it was only an hour a day and minimum wage, when you had few other expenses, it did the job). I’ve had a lot of jobs, but ultimately, I think this is about the memories and the effect getting the job had on me*. So instead of “first” job, maybe I’ll just talk about some other jobs I’ve gotten and how I got them. Continue reading “How did you get your first job?”
What a long strange year it’s been…
It’s been a year, huh?
I mean, heck, it started off swell!
We saw in the New Year watching fireworks from the balcony and anticipating what 2020 was going to bring. We made our usual lists of things we wanted to accomplish in the coming year, read our jar full of accomplishments, kissed at midnight, and met the new dawn full of hope and brightness.
Well that didn’t last long. Continue reading “What a long strange year it’s been…”
What was your first boss like?
Again I have a problem with the question…It seems this will be my lot with this particular endeavor, having to define the question for myself in order to give an answer which seems worthy of the time to write (or read). For example, this question is “What Was Your First Boss Like?” To be honest, I’m not sure. I’d have to think of my first job and again, not sure I can do that.
P-n-P
What was your first big trip?
Here it is, my first question from StoryWorth and already off to a rocky start. I read the question and immediately started pondering what was meant by “big trip?” How far back did I go? Was it in reference to an important trip or one of a huge duration? Naturally, it was Rasa who solved the dilemma. Continue reading “What was your first big trip?”
StoryWorth
I just got a fascinating holiday gift from my great friend and (sometimes) writing partner Troy and his wife Katie. It’s from a company called StoryWorth and the basic premise is pretty simple – at regular intervals (anywhere from once a day to once a month) they email you a question. You then answer it in as much or as little detail as you wish and email it back to them.
It Finally Happened…
It seems like I haven’t written anything here in a while. Part of me wants to say that’s because not much has been happening, that we’ve been trapped in the house due to the pandemic and life has just sort of…stopped. But that’s not true. Not in any sense, really. Continue reading “It Finally Happened…”
Do Something
Strangest words I ever heard from a professor regarding an assignment, but that was exactly what Dr. Felicia Campbell, who passed away July 27 from Covid-19 complications, announced as the details of a class project. “Just do … something,” she’d reiterate when questioned by a student who didn’t quite understand the freedom of the directive. “It doesn’t matter what you do, you just have to do something.” Continue reading “Do Something”
On Maps and Knowing Where Things Are
I really love maps. They’re great for showing all sorts of really cool data about any number of things. And doing it in a way which makes it easy to read and understand. Like this one here, next to what you’re reading, it’s a map of New York City, showing the homes/working areas of a number of top superheroes.
Sounds of the Disneyland Resort
It’s no secret I love going to Disneyland. Seriously, just click here and you’ll see various reports of various trips over the last several years, and that’s just since I started keeping track! I’ve even published pieces about taking Monki there for the first time. Continue reading “Sounds of the Disneyland Resort”
On the Search for the Silver Lining…
Just trying to parse some stuff here. In the past, a friend or two would contact me to tell me of something negative in their lives and I would respond by trying to trying to cheer them up. Then a few days ago, another friend was having a bad experience and I was responding the way I usually do to which the response came: “I appreciate the search for a silver lining.” Continue reading “On the Search for the Silver Lining…”
Clowning around…
I have a number of good friends who are now or have been at one time professional clowns. I’ve spent a good deal of time the last several years traveling and hanging out with some amazingly funny people. In the past I’ve lived with clowns, worked with clowns, consulted with clowns, written about… you get the idea. In fact, had the world gone a little differently, I might have ended up one myself. I’ve certainly been offered the opportunity.
Needless to say, I have a deep love, admiration and respect for the artform. Thankfully, I’m not the only one and a few years ago, David Carlyon wrote a great piece for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival called American Clowns: Performance, History, and Cliché, which looks at all those different factors in the world of clowning.
Birthdays – 2020 edition
Well, this week, Monki and I turned a collective 57 (or, on average, 28 1/2 each). Personally, I think get the better side of that since in reality I’ve just turned 53 (Holy shit that’s a big number) and she’s just turned 4 (which, in its own way, is also a really big number). Continue reading “Birthdays – 2020 edition”
Advice
Now, about four years into this whole fatherhood thing, I’m realizing something I only understood intellectually before – I don’t know shit. When talking to my friend AAron the other day, we were discussing child-rearing and I conceded that yes, I would probably screw up Monki somewhere along the way. No matter how much we try to do the right things in the right way, we (and, let’s face it, all parents) are going to screw up and make mistakes. Continue reading “Advice”
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 